What If There Just Aren’t Enough Jobs to Go Around?

Post by adamnemecek » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:37 PM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #103

adamnemecek wrote: post #23

Not an economist but my thoughts on the topic are that society can make changes to accommodate this. This isn't a catastrophe, we just need to prepare. I think this needs to/will happen: * labour will change from people having only one main skill to having multiple skills ("jack of all trades, master of none" will become "jack of all trades, master of fewer") * this will be made possible by the fact that technology m…

The trend here is that humans will become ubiquitous learning machines, valued for their ability to fulfill variable demand. Automation works well through economies of scale to fulfill large, steady amounts of demand. A.I. works well when there is a lot of existing data or logged activity to train on. For new, variable, or niche demand markets, Humans will be unique in that they can fill the demand faster than A.I. o…

Post by Apocryphon » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:39 PM UTC

noarchy wrote: post #38

emodendroket wrote: post #15

Then the government should either directly employ people or else provide them with an income, or some combination of these.

>Then the government should either directly employ people or else provide them with an income, or some combination of these. It is interesting to see that, in the early 21st century, communism is becoming palatable again. Could this be due to all of the old communist states either ceasing to exist or (for instance, the case of China) changing into something quite unlike their former sleves? In short, did we forget ab…

Post by Apocryphon » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:40 PM UTC

Post by themihai » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:41 PM UTC

david927 wrote: post #96

maxharris wrote: post #78

First, there are plenty of jobs, but not enough people that have decided to develop themselves enough to have the skills to do them. For example (a real life one, unfortunately for me): I need a biopsy of a mass near my heart, but the current waiting time for this procedure here in Seattle (at both major hospitals) is two months. What we do have is plenty of regulations that constrain the supply of physicians, servic…

That's like saying there's plenty of room for musicians if you're Mozart. The amount of investment required to develop yourself for a target field has grown astronomically, but that's been coupled with a push down in wages. I know lawyers who spent a fortune for their degree, passed the Bar, and make barely more than minimum wage. Regulation isn't causing this; automation is causing this.

Post by maxharris » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 9:43 PM UTC

johnwheeler wrote: post #124

david927 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like saying there's plenty of room for musicians if you're Mozart. The amount of investment required to develop yourself for a target field has grown astronomically, but that's been coupled with a push down in wages. I know lawyers who spent a fortune for their degree, passed the Bar, and make barely more than minimum wage. Regulation isn't causing this; automation is causing this.

To see why that is true, imagine we lived in a sports-based economy. In such a marketplace, I would be a flop. You could supply me with the world’s best instruction, and I could endlessly strive to improve my skills. But, alas, on the gridiron or basketball court I would never command even a minimum wage. The brutal truth is that an advanced economic system, whether it be geared to physical or mental skills, will lea…